Veteran Dies After Being Attacked by VA Police As He Tried to Leave Hospital To Get Dialysis Elsewhere

A California veteran suffered a stroke that eventually killed him nearly three years ago after police beat him up when he tried to leave a Veterans Hospital with a shunt in his arm, according to a lawsuit filed by the man’s family.

Jonathan Montano grew impatient May 25, 2011, after waiting four hours for dialysis at the VA hospital in Loma Linda, and he told a nurse he intended to leave with the needle apparatus in his arm so staffers at a VA hospital in Long Beach would not have to insert a new one.

But the nursing staff called the VA Police Department, the suit claims, and officers stopped the 65-year-old Montano by tackling him to the floor, slamming his head on the ground, and kneeing and stomping on his neck.

“This kneeing and stomping on his neck by the VA Police Department police officers caused the dissection of his carotid artery, that resulted in immediate (or very soon thereafter) blood clotting, which resulted in [his] suffering a stroke,” the suit claims.

Montano had asked his wife to wait in the car and take him to the other hospital, but she eventually went inside to look for her husband of 44 years.

The nursing staff told her that Jonathan Montano had suffered a stroke, the suit claims, which an emergency room doctor said was caused by a fall.

“Later on, one of the nurses at the VA Hospital in Loma Linda took Norma Montano aside, and told her that her husband didn’t fall, but was slammed to the ground by the VA Police, that Norma Montano was being lied to, and that it wasn’t right what the VA Police did to Jonathan Montano,” the suit alleges.

Jonathan Montano died June 11, 2011, of complications from the stroke.

Montano’s wife, son, and daughter have sued the United States in federal court, seeking punitive and other damages for wrongful death, false imprisonment, constitutional violations, negligence, loss of consortium, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The suit comes as Congress investigates the deaths of veterans awaiting treatment at VA hospitals, although Norma Montano said police brutality — not improper care — caused her husband’s death.

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astrojohn

I’m surprised they didn’t shoot him with their new supply of hollow points…

Nonameever

That would’ve interfered with expected profits in the property of the treatment of the patient.

RealityCheck

welcome to obama police state. never think for a moment that his gestapo will not follow his orders to fire on americans. these thugs prevented persons right to choose and this story proves it.

chrismalllory

The police state didn’t start with Obama and it won’t end when he is gone. Until we end immigration and the War on (some) Drugs we will be hostage to the police state.

Sardis

I’m sure the officers were under direct orders from Obama. Right.

Nonameever

Under direct orders from the people who pay their salaries, cops are making money for their bosses, or haven’t you ever received a traffic citation?

Sardis

If, say, I was assaulted by a New Jersey police officer, I probably would hesitate to say it was done by order of Governor Christie, although the buck is a lot closer there than it is between “VA police” (whatever that’s supposed to be) and the President of the United States.

Western Gunowner

Stuff like this was happening long before Obozo came on the scene.
And simply getting rid of him, IE electing a Repubilcan prezzy, will not solve the problem.
The Republicans are pretty awfull when they are in power too.

Daniel F. Melton

Would you buy a hunting license on a corrupt and/or incompetent bureaucrat who can’t be fired?

Western Gunowner

bizarre and non-sequiter

sandraleesmith46

Open season, no bag limit?

Daniel F. Melton

Yabetcha!

sandraleesmith46

All righty, then!

TexRancher

We’re talking about this incident that happened here and now…The past doesn’t excuse the most military hating subversive we have ever had in office!

Western Gunowner

Tex, you may be hard of reading but I didn’t excuse anybody.

Note that Reality above said it was “obama(s) police state”.

Well that police state existed BEFORE Obozo took office and it will exist AFTER he leaves.

You really think the next prezzy, either Republican or Democrat, is going to change that?

JobRon

Dear WG: I believe that it is the hope of those who read, believe in, and follow the constitution ; and vote that way: that should happen. However saying that, it is my opinion there is a consortium of evil in power that will do ANY THING, and I mean just that, ANYTHIING to remain in power!!! Voter fraud included!!!

Charles A Love

God i have to quit reading stuff like this….or else Ima have a damn stroke myself…I guess we are only hearing about this now because the liberal media never covered it in the first place

Lyric Thompson

I’m so with you..

Cajun812

Under the “protective” wing of the Nanny State. The tenuous threads of tyranny run through every single facet of our lives now, from medical treatment to children’s education; from who and what we can do in our places of business to what we do in our very own homes! We cannot even keep all the money we earn, to invest as WE see fit for our own individual circumstances, but, under threat of fine, penalty or imprisonment, have a portion confiscated by ‘elitists’ who exempt themselves! It’s ridiculous what we’ve been brainwashed to put up with.

Daniel F. Melton

A few suggestions…

If you want an honest government:
1) Select Representatives by means of a draft lottery, qualifications for inclusion to the pool of prospective draftees to be determined by each state.
2) Repeal the 17th Amendment. Give the selection of Senators back to the state legislatures, with the addition of term limits and the right of recall by the state Governor, the state legislature, and plebiscite.
3) Remove the pay and benefits of federal legislators and staff from the federal domain. The state sending these people to Congress should be paying ’em.
4) No ‘retirement pay’ or special benefits for federal or state legislators or bureaucrats at any level.
5) All laws apply to legislators and bureaucrats as well as citizens.
6) All judges serve a fixed term and then have to completely avoid the “legal” profession for ten years.
7) Former judges, bureaucrats, or legislators are forbidden from lobbying any branch or agency of government. A felony punishable by a fixed fine of $1 million and a jail term not less than 10 years for both parties involved.

Eliminating the “protections” bureaucrats enjoy against lawsuits for their egregious behaviors is another thought…

Ranchman

This is beyond despicable. Where does the tyranny end, how far will it be allowed to progress before the American people do something about it? Deep down, we all know what needs to be done, but we’re afraid to do it. We know that the govt has been planning a defense against the outrage of the American people for decades now and we’re afraid to take the necessary steps. What we need to consider is the lives of our children and grandchildren. They will have a much harder time at restoring their freedom, if it will even be possible, than we would have if we did something about it right now. The more time goes by, the more an evil and tyrannical govt has at becoming all powerful. We need to come together and do something about all this tyranny in our midst right now, not later.

Nonameever

Take a look at the HIPAA act that ‘makes patient’s rights clear’ by attempting to circumscribe the fundamental liberty to access information on one’s own medical care and treatment ‘to summaries that doctors believe a patient should have access to’ in other words, a legislative attempt to deny fundamental liberty by broad strokes and against the many US Supreme Court cases that describe the fundamental right to information on one’s own medical care and treatment. If medical care is secret, then the doctors and not the patients make the decisions and the patients are mere property concerns of the doctors and medical facillities

Sandra Hochstedler

Too much time has passed for much to be done peacefully against the tyranny that has become our country’s government attitude. It has been creeping for longer than We The People have admitted to ourselves because we didn’t want to see it or deal with it. If we don’t stop denying this is happening to our beloved country, we are destined to go down with it. When we expressed disdain at electing a president with woeful inexperience and suspected unimaginable motives for becoming our country’s “leader”, we were called racists for following our gut and expressing our opinions, for which we were cowed into quiet acceptance. The people who kept on refusing to accept what their gut was telling them went out and bought guns, which was countered by DHS going out and buying up most of the ammo, creating a shortage. Then the people vilified the gun-owners, causing us to basically go underground, so attention was turned to vilifying the NRA! I don’t know what the answer is, but I know one thing…I am very happy to be nearer to the end than the beginning, however, I am ashamed to leave this life knowing what a mess I have left the country in for my great-grandchildren. The courage of WWII generation will probably never be seen again.

Capt. Parker

The “VA police” ……. REALLY???? Since when does the VA have “police” and BY WHAT AUTHORITY?

sandraleesmith46

Past 20 years or so, but I don’t believe there’s any genuine authority, they’re just THERE!

Apparently they can also be used to forcefully stop old vets from leaving the compound to seek care elsewhere, now.

Nonameever

I am not surprised about the conduct in Loma Linda CA, and no one who has ever been anywhere near Loma Linda CA should be surprised. The San Bernardino County Courts routinely enforce a property right of medical facilities over mere patient’s right to control their own medical care, to the common extent of denying phones, visitors, communication and especially the right to leave any facility where exercise of the liberty interest of the patient is likely to result in loss of expected revenue. Persons who attempt to aid patients in their right to control the course of their own medical care, should expect arrest and brutalization by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept. and the courts. Money is king in medical care in San Bernardino County. The patient was obviously leaving to the denial of the facility’s expectation of profit, which is not countenanced anywhere in San Bernardino County. A patient is a property concern and without liberty in San Bernardino County CA.

Shadow_58

Well, the VA Hospital is killing Veterans, so the VA Police got into the action and had to kill at least one Veteran. These people are sick !!!!!!!

splooshman

Those officers need a good beating in a dark alley. What communist scumbags!

TexRancher

Appropriate treatment according to the set up by Obama. So when will he be prosecuted for this vet’s murder?

OurAmerica

What is it with police anymore? Are they all cowards? Tackling a 65 year old man in a VA hospital? I guess they forget who they are working for. Those officers should be removed from the force for excessive force and also for being cowards and the hospital investigated, and charged for lying to his wife.

Sandra Tomhave

Not only do they have signs and symptoms of cowardice, a great many of the neo-skinhead bunch we call “law enforcement officers” are coming to age with the attitude that they would have no hesitation at killing civilians in any type of public demonstration confrontation. The police of my vintage would not have thought of doing that, but they are all but gone from the scene with retirement or demise and all we have left now, with few exceptions, are the neo-Nazi types who actually get off at beating up or even killing civilians. This was declared by a new recruit in a recent conversation without batting an eye! The time is drawing near, people, when you will realize why the second amendment has meaning to those of us who own firearms. I realize it is nothing up against a government tank, but at least I will having a fighting chance when that day comes.

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About Jan

Jan is an Associated Press Award Winning Veteran television journalist, now turned citizen activist for the Conservative Movement. Her Conservative voice has generated a following of over 200,000 friends and subscribers on her three Facebook pages. Read more ...